2 Residential Fires Leave 1 Injured, 3 Homeless

A woman was burned trying to save her apartment and three other people lost their home because of fires in Fullerton and Cypress, firefighters reported Friday.

Cheryl Cox, 42, of Fullerton received first- and second-degree burns on her face and arms when she tried to douse a fire in her apartment late Thursday night, said Capt. Lyle Bruns of the Fullerton Fire Department.

Cox had left her ground-floor apartment on the 3300 block of Topaz Lane with a friend about 10 p.m. and returned half an hour later to find it on fire, Bruns said.

According to firefighters, Cox probably was injured when she tried to douse the blaze with water and was burned by the resulting steam. Cox was treated at Placentia Linda Community Hospital and released, a hospital spokesman said.

Bruns said Cox’s apartment sustained about $25,000 in damage to the structure and contents. A neighboring apartment was heavily damaged by smoke. Investigators suspect that the fire started in Cox’s kitchen.

In Cypress, two men and a woman were left without a home after flames spread through their two-story house in the 5800 block of Lemon Avenue. Police said no one was injured in the 4 a.m. blaze, which might have been caused by a cigarette.

Officials did not have an estimate of the damage.